5 ms·

You'd hope "European top minds" would have different things on their mind than mere money. (have given up hope for our US friends) Virtually none of the discov

by RGamma 6y ago

You'd hope "European top minds" would have different things on their mind than mere money. (have given up hope for our US friends) Virtually none of the discoveries that fundamentally changed the world were _driven_ by thoughts about that mindnumbing thing. It really kills ingenuity and curiosity

calgoo 6y ago
Well, if you have to worry about money every month because you are living month to month, then yes money is important. This is the situation in many EU countries.
marcus_holmes 6y ago
There you are, dreaming of this awesome new thing that will be amazeballs while eating ramen in your shitty flat. Then someone comes and offers you a ton of money to go think about some other stuff for a few years. You figure you can always come back to thinking about the awesome thing, but a few years of eating decent food and living in decent housing would be nice.
- RGamma 6y ago
  This sound like you're living in a not-so-developed (part of the) country though? Sorry if that's the case, but from my experience living in Germany you can easily afford decent food (in fact there's little bad food, except the artificial American stuff) and housing while going to uni for free (you might even apply for BaFöG and stipends). This would especially apply to you as a bright person.
  - marcus_holmes 6y ago
    I wasn't really talking about me, more about a hypothetical researcher and the decision they might have to make when faced with this
    - RGamma 6y ago
      Mhh fair enough, guess I'm just a fan of ideals in science.
chrisseaton 6y ago
But North American companies in my experience also give you more freedom and resources and scope to work on your ideas, and better work-life balance while you do it. It's not just the money.
- sofixa 6y ago
  > But North American companies in my experience also give you more freedom and resources and scope to work on your ideas, and better work-life balance while you do it Any source on that? That's literally the first time i'm hearing anyone say North American companies provide better work-life balance than European ones. OECD average work week disagrees with you, i'm not aware of other sources on the subject.
  - chrisseaton 6y ago
    > OECD average work week disagrees with you Right but we're talking about a single specific industry that's not the norm. My North American company gives me as much time off as I ask for, they shut down for two weeks over the new year, they don't care what hours I work, and they give extended sabbaticals after a few years. In the office they have incredible standard of food and drinks and the off-sites are awesome. My friends at British companies have to be at their desk at 0830, get 28 days holiday and not an hour more, have to take a sad sandwich to work because nothing is provided, and the off-sites are depressing. The biggest difference: North American companies are happy for you to work from home. This has given me thousands of hours back with my family, and saved me hundreds of thousands of pounds in housing costs. My friends at British companies all have to go into an office. (Pre-pandemic.) If you're a supermarket shelf-stacker I'm sure work-life and benefits are better in the UK than in the US... but we're not talking about shelf-stackers we're talking about tech companies.
    - dukeyukey 6y ago
      Counterpoint, it's almost the reverse in my experience. I worked for two years for a medium-sized Seattle-based tech company in their London office, and the last 12 months in a British tech company. The American company had way more bureaucracy and rules around stuff than the UK company. The UK company paid way better, had a barista on-staff, much more up-to-date tech, and less work hours to boot.

by RGamma 6y ago

calgoo 6y ago

Well, if you have to worry about money every month because you are living month to month, then yes money is important. This is the situation in many EU countries.

marcus_holmes 6y ago

There you are, dreaming of this awesome new thing that will be amazeballs while eating ramen in your shitty flat. Then someone comes and offers you a ton of money to go think about some other stuff for a few years. You figure you can always come back to thinking about the awesome thing, but a few years of eating decent food and living in decent housing would be nice.

RGamma 6y ago
This sound like you're living in a not-so-developed (part of the) country though? Sorry if that's the case, but from my experience living in Germany you can easily afford decent food (in fact there's little bad food, except the artificial American stuff) and housing while going to uni for free (you might even apply for BaFöG and stipends). This would especially apply to you as a bright person.
- marcus_holmes 6y ago
  I wasn't really talking about me, more about a hypothetical researcher and the decision they might have to make when faced with this
  - RGamma 6y ago
    Mhh fair enough, guess I'm just a fan of ideals in science.

chrisseaton 6y ago

But North American companies in my experience also give you more freedom and resources and scope to work on your ideas, and better work-life balance while you do it. It's not just the money.

sofixa 6y ago
> But North American companies in my experience also give you more freedom and resources and scope to work on your ideas, and better work-life balance while you do it Any source on that? That's literally the first time i'm hearing anyone say North American companies provide better work-life balance than European ones. OECD average work week disagrees with you, i'm not aware of other sources on the subject.
- chrisseaton 6y ago
  > OECD average work week disagrees with you Right but we're talking about a single specific industry that's not the norm. My North American company gives me as much time off as I ask for, they shut down for two weeks over the new year, they don't care what hours I work, and they give extended sabbaticals after a few years. In the office they have incredible standard of food and drinks and the off-sites are awesome. My friends at British companies have to be at their desk at 0830, get 28 days holiday and not an hour more, have to take a sad sandwich to work because nothing is provided, and the off-sites are depressing. The biggest difference: North American companies are happy for you to work from home. This has given me thousands of hours back with my family, and saved me hundreds of thousands of pounds in housing costs. My friends at British companies all have to go into an office. (Pre-pandemic.) If you're a supermarket shelf-stacker I'm sure work-life and benefits are better in the UK than in the US... but we're not talking about shelf-stackers we're talking about tech companies.
  - dukeyukey 6y ago
    Counterpoint, it's almost the reverse in my experience. I worked for two years for a medium-sized Seattle-based tech company in their London office, and the last 12 months in a British tech company. The American company had way more bureaucracy and rules around stuff than the UK company. The UK company paid way better, had a barista on-staff, much more up-to-date tech, and less work hours to boot.